Automotive tires and other rubber products are often difficult to dispose. Further, many recycling procedures have been proposed or are in use to handle these rubber materials. However, most of these procedures provide an end product that is lower in quality than the original rubber material. As such, much of the recycled rubber is used for alternative uses, such as playground floors, running tracks, and various padding or rubber structures or devices.
It would be a significant advance in the art if a recycling process for waste rubber, such as old automotive tires, provided an end product having a defined composition and capable of being used to manufacture new products demanding very good rubber quality. For example, it is desirable in the art to develop a process that can recycle used automotive tires for the partial manufacture of new automotive tires. The objective of delivering high quality rubber end products from recycled rubber has proven difficult, however, the processes described herein provide a novel approach to manufacturing high quality products from recycled rubber.